Why Influencer Marketing Rocks
Influencer marketing is a type of marketing that involves brands partnering with key industry influencers to promote their products or services. Many brands find influencer marketing to be a beneficial way to get the word out about their products without having to spend a lot of time and effort marketing to the masses, but instead letting the influencer promote the brand naturally to their fan base.
Seeing as how most key influencers have a strong social media following, influencer marketing commonly involves some kind of social media or content marketing campaign. Tapping into an influencer’s followers is an amazing way for brands to expand their audience and get their brand in front users who are likely to be interested in their products.
If done right, an influencer marketing campaign has the power to completely revolutionize and reenergize a brand. Take a look at these top Influencer Marketing Campaigns that completely changed the name of the marketing game last year.
So, why should brands consider diving into influencer marketing? Well. here’s why.
More successful than traditional marketing
No longer can brands simply bombard consumers with marketing messages in hopes that they are listening. Consumers do not want to be “talked at” by brands, but instead prefer to be “talked with”. Modern-day consumers are looking to build relationships and create a sense of community with brands, wanting to partake in conversations with the companies they are purchasing from. That’s where influencer marketing comes into play.
Not only does influencer marketing involve creating organic conversation between a brand and its audience, it also takes into account the power of product reviews and referrals.
Research shows that when making a purchase, 92 percent of consumers say they trust recommendations from strangers over simply listening to what a brand has to say.
Influencer marketing is the perfect solution to solving this marketing gap by allowing real people to talk about their experience with products. It’s real, it’s authentic, and because of that, it is now more successful than ever before.
Higher marketing returns
Influencer marketing is now making its name known as the most cost-effective customer acquisition method. Studies have shown that for every $1 spent on influencer marketing, brands tend to receive an average of $23 in return. Influencer marketing has also been shown to generate as much as 11 times more revenue than other digital marketing strategies, such as banner ads and other paid advertising.
Influencer content is eternal
Why does influencer marketing have such a great ROI? Simple. Influencer content is eternal, unique and authentic. Unlike paid ads where a brand’s message disappears after they stop promoting it, influencer content, such as blogs, social media posts and product reviews, continue to drive value even after the initial promotion stops. Why is this important? According to MDG Advertising, 70 percent of consumers want to learn about products through content as opposed to traditional ad methods. Consumers are tired of paid advertising, and instead want real life content — which is exactly what you get with influencer marketing.
Diverse distribution channels
Brand influencers are very diverse in terms of age, content, social media followers, etc. Because of this, brands have a diverse set of influencers to choose from. This is beneficial for brands that are looking for a specific type of brand influencer, maybe someone from a specific industry, or someone of a certain age. Some brands may select one large influencer to market their product to the masses, while others may select several smaller influencers to target a small, but highly engaged, group. Having such diverse channels gives brands many options for achieving their marketing goals.
Helps with SEO
Building a strong influencer marketing campaign can help brands increase their social media shares, engagement and reach, which in turn can increase website traffic, as well as help to build a strong link profile. The more social media shares a company receives, the more a brand’s quality content is being seen and the more backlinks being created, which is a major player in building a solid SEO strategy. According to MOZ, receiving backlinks from other high-authority domains is the number one factor search engines consider when ranking a site.
Conclusion
Influencer marketing is an extremely beneficial way for brands to market to the masses without having to spend a lot of time and money doing so. Influencer marketing allows brands to tap into preexisting communities that would be interested in their product, and advertise to them in a new and unconventional way, improving a brand’s ROI and aiding in building a strong SEO strategy. Bottom line, influencer marketing is almost always a win!
